Defeat in Victory
by PuppetMaster55
Summary: In which Valerie finally wins against Phantom, and goes to take Danny up on that delayed relationship.


Valerie walked up to the house, the FentonWorks sign glowing faintly in the early evening sky. She had a big grin on her face that she just couldn't get rid of. She was about to do it; the last time they'd spoken, she'd had to let him go. At the time, she'd said that there wasn't any room in either of their lives for, well, _them_, but now...

Now her reason for ghost hunting, and the entire reason that Amity Park was besieged by all those ghosts, was gone. She'd finally done it; had finally taken Phantom down. She'd shot him down two days previously, and had watched as he'd disintegrated before her eyes, crying her name in what otherwise might have been shock and fear. But he was gone, and already the number of ghosts appearing in the town were dwindling.

One day previously, she'd informed Mayor Masters of Phantom's second death (she didn't know what kind of person the boy, and it was clear that he had been a boy, had been when he was alive, but his spirit could now rest in peace); Masters had been shocked to learn of it, but he'd silently nodded before presenting her with a manilla envelope. Within, he told her, held information to a bank account that he'd had set up during her employment. It was all set up in her father's name, and all that was needed was his signature to make all of it legal.

So she'd finally gone back. Had knocked on the apartment door and had the heartfelt reunion, and she'd cried just as much as her dad did when he pulled her close. And they'd stayed that way for the rest of the day, keeping each other within arms-length of one another. Even when Valerie had gone to her old room (and _by god_ was it exactly the same as when she'd left, without a layer of dust on anything because _he had kept it clean hoping she'd return_), her dad had fallen asleep on the desk chair.

Which led her to today, standing outside FentonWorks. She'd once told Danny that their lives were just too busy, that her life was too busy, to even consider a relationship with him, and that someday the two of them could get together. With the (second) death of Phantom, and the ghosts being found attacking Amity Park dwindling down, today was that day. The day she was going to ask Danny out on a date; the start of the one relationship that could have been.

She knocked on the door.

Valerie expected several things to happen: that Danny would answer the door, hair mussed-up and windswept (and just _how_ he always had windswept hair she didn't know); that Dr. Fenton would answer, goggles and hood over her head with a half-soldered device in hand; that Jazz would answer, nose-deep in a psychology book. Instead...

The door was thrown open, and Dr. Fenton stood there gasping a breathless "Danny!", only to pause as she saw Valerie standing there, hand still poised to knock.

"Dr. Fenton?" The hand came down, and Val's smile got smaller. "Is- is Danny here?"

There was a tense sort of silence that came down hard as soon as Valerie asked that question, and within seconds the grin was gone.

"Danny... is okay," she asked, nervousness bleeding into her voice as she noticed that Dr. Fenton was staring her down with red-rimmed eyes. "Right?"

"Valerie." And then there was Jazz, eyes puffy and red and voice thick. Tear tracks could be seen on her face. "Have- have you seen D-danny?"

"No." A feeling of dread crawled along her spine as she started to realize. _No..._ "I came over here because... well, we kinda went out once, and I broke it off with a promise to go on a date when things stopped being so hectic for me and..."

"Oh." And Dr. Fenton _broke_, pulled away, shuffling back into the house as Jazz moved to take over her post at the door.

"What happened? Where's Danny?" Concern and fear were heavy in Valerie's voice as she practically demanded answers from the red-head.

"We don't know," was Jazz's response. "He's been missing for the past two days. The last time anyone saw him was in the mall-"

Two days ago? The mall?

"You mean when Phantom and the Huntress fought?" Oh god. She'd only gotten there _after_ Phantom had gotten into a fight with another ghost; if Danny'd gotten caught in the crossfire...

"Phantom." Jazz latched onto the name like a drowning man to driftwood. "Where is he? He can find Danny? He can-"

"I wouldn't know where..." This was far beyond her comfort zone.

"_Yes you would!_ I know you're the Huntress." She knew? She _knew_? "Phantom can help find Danny, so where is he?"

Valerie didn't know why Jazz trusted Phantom so much, or why she thought Phantom could find Danny, but... "He's dead. I killed him. But why would he know where Danny-"

Jazz let out a strangled sob, pulling away with horror-stricken eyes. Valerie really was feeling like she was missing something here. Something big and important.

"Jazz, why would Phantom know where Danny is?"

"Because..." Jazz choked out between sobs. "Phantom _is_ Danny."


End file.
